Darren Cahill, who is the super coach who brought Sinner to number 1 in the ATP rankings

The power of the declaration with which Jannik Sinner shared the announcement of the closing of the cycle Darren Cahill he has not yet revealed his disruptiveness and the impact that such an absence could have on the number 1’s staff and on tennis as a whole. Talented, fascinating figure, but born under the sign that he was Boris Becker, Mats Wilander e Stefan Edberg in a bold but not at all predictable compensation it supported the growth, in the era of the 2020s, of Sinner accompanying him in the role of super coach up to number 1 in the ATP rankings.

Thanks to him, also his if Jannik he achieved a similar goal in 2024 when it seemed he could climb those positions. It was in the planning, in the hypothesis. Cahill he made this eventuality concrete, with method and discipline.

Cahill’s entry into the Sinner staff

When Sinner welcomed him to Cahillwas already considered one of the coach most talented players on the circuit from which he intends to leave at the end of the season. The transition was delicate, and it is understandable due to the expectations that had pressed Jannik and the same Simone Vagnozzi.

An appreciated and esteemed coach, who he worked alongside Cahill with a perfect fit. And despite the skid that would have broken anyone’s solidity, when it emerged Clostebol scandal and the torments of the young number 1 were made more accessible, somehow reasonable.

Cahill with Vagnozzi next to him

The route to number 1 in the ranking

Cahill has maintained its course towards the top of the world rankings, without hesitation. Perhaps educated by the same experience as a tennis player with enormous potential, but in light of the results, born in the era less favorable to his ambitions. And then Simona Halep and before her the others she had guided to their best and total expression on the tennis courts, such as Andre Agassi. An example, a model of total inspiration, for his choices that have become right, correct. Healthy, above all.

Darren has joined the staff of Jannik when it already was in the top 10 of the ranking. In the solitude of the prime numbers that inspires, more than any other tournament, that event within the event that is monopolizing media attention, has also arrived Cahill.

The super coach who kept him focused

From the coach to the super coach, from the physiotherapist to the mental coach, from the athletic trainer to the manager for everything that concerns the collateral has and holds a specific weight in his daily life. As he himself stated Sinnerin a recent interview with ATP, with Cahill e Vagnozzi “It’s like a family. I see them more often than my parents.”

Collaboration with Darren Cahill is cool, though. It begins in June 2022, when the former semi-finalist at the US Open born in 1965 and legend of his generation Darren Cahillwhat we summarize in the expression super coach. Previously Hill, who we also remember for his tennis exploits, has worked alongside figures of the stature of Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray and Simona Halep.

The Agassi miracle

With him, Hewitt shared everything up to the top. And they parted as friends. With Agassi it was a human undertaking, before a professional one. In April 2002 the American at 33 years and 131 days he managed to become the oldest player to ever occupy the first position of ranking ATP dal 1973when it was introduced. The memory, vivid and vibrant, that he makes of those days upon days in Open, his book, is wonderful. With Simona Halep finds the alchemy where he worked with Andy Murray, Ana Ivanovic, Fernando Verdasco and Daniela Hantuchova. And they are two years of glory, between 2017 and 2018 at the top.

Not just a coach, but a super coach precisely that combines plans and strategy, with a vision and projection that reaches the level of Sinner perhaps it needed a figure with international experience. And who better than a coach who, before Jannikhad followed others three numbers 1?

The role in Jannik’s staff and the relationship with Vagnozzi

Their union, starting from June 2022, was accompanied by a not exactly painless change. But inevitable, necessary. In that same interview, the super coach of Sinner he wanted to express what is part of his role in this staff with these words: “My role is more to convey my experience to him”, he specified, without touching in any way the work of Dishes done first on Jannik. “These were very good and productive first months of collaboration,” he specified. In fact it is a fact that, despite occupying a fixed place in the top 10, his entry into the team decided the number 1 in the ranking.

Coach and supercoach follow Sinner from the box during Wimbledon

The results of a pro tennis player

As we were saying, a cycle is closing in the world of tennis. Another, for Cahill who had attempted to express himself at the highest levels, finding himself against the best of the last 40 years. An era considered golden, exemplary of tennis that was beginning to take on the characteristics of what we have come to know especially in the 2000s.

Born in 1965, Australian son of the Australian football player and coach John Cahill he was nicknamed killer for a reason. At junior level he was very promising, playing the doubles final at the 1983 Australian Open together with Alan Lane; it had to be the excellent premise for a brilliant tennis career, as they used to say at the time. Instead, having become pro, he won two singles titles, reaching twenty-second position in the world. Not much, for a deadly potential who sees his forehand as the winning weapon. His best result was the semi-final of the 1988 US Open, eliminating Boris Becker in his path and only surrendering to a certain Mats Wilanderfuture winner of the tournament.

In doubles he won thirteen titles and reached the top 10 in the world, reaching the final of the Australian Open 1989 paired with Mark Kratzmann. Not bad even in the mixed doubles where, together with Nicole Bradtkereached the last match of Wimbledon Tournament 1987. as a coach he realized his dream of conquering number 1, thanks to Sinner.

For one called Killer a satisfaction that probably doesn’t deserve any more time.